WEDNESDAY 13 MAY 2020

A full day conference curated by CMU at The Great Escape putting the spotlight on music education in 2020

Music educators and music employers will again come together to discuss how music education, the music industry and the music community at large can better support early-career artists and musicians. This day will be based around the new ‘Pathways Into Music’ book from CMU, which is being published chapter-by-chapter online before being presented as one publication at TGE. Mapping music careers, music education and local music industries, we will ask: how are you supporting future music talent?

CMU+TGE Music Education Conference: Section By Section

The day breaks down into four main sections, each including a speed briefing from CMU plus interviews, case studies and lively debate. The key sections are as follows…

01: SUPPORTING MUSIC-MAKERS IN THE DIY PHASE

CMU’s Pathways Into Music project has split the career of a frontline artist into ten steps – from hobbyist to headliner. The first three steps make up the DIY Phase, when music-makers rely heavily on educators and educational organisations for support.

But what support do they need? What advice, information and resources would remove the barriers and help music-makers progress? To find out, we ask those currently working their way through the DIY Phase what they want, and those now in steps four and five what they wish they’d known five years ago.

02: WHAT DO WE MEAN BY CREATIVE ENTREPRENEURSHIP?

CMU’s Pathways Into Music book calls for creative entrepreneurship to become part of music education, to better equip young people for careers in music, on or off stage.

But what do we mean by creative entrepreneurship? How can young music-makers grow their own artist businesses, or set up new music companies, or embark on a portfolio career in music? We ask creative entrepreneurs – and experts in fanbase building and industry networking – what skills and knowledge we should be adding to the curriculum.

03: WHEN EDUCATION AND INDUSTRY COLLABORATE

The Music Education Conference is all about what can be achieved when music educators and the music industry collaborate. We put the spotlight on a number of collaborations of this kind, a diverse mix of projects involving different age groups and genres. How did these projects come together? Who paid for them? What did they achieve? And what did the people behind these ventures learn from the experience?

04: WHAT IF WE COULD START THE MUSIC CURRICULUM FROM SCRATCH?

There has been plenty of discussion about how music could be better taught in schools and how we might go about encouraging and enabling reform.

But what if we could start the whole thing from scratch? What kind of music curriculum would you write if you were starting with a blank page? We put that question to leading music-makers and industry executives.